Is social media a substitute for email marketing?

With tons of social media options available, your company may be considering opting out of your email marketing service for a social media substitute. Think twice. Compare your digital marketing practices in relativity to traditional marketing. If you participate in radio advertising do you stop sending newsletters and coupons to your current clients? There is some overlap between those who hear your radio spots and those who receive your newsletters and coupons though many people are only consuming one form or your advertising.

The same is true with your digital marketing. Your social media fans are often not on your email list and those on your email list are not subscribers to your RSS feed. Some may only use Twitter or Facebook but not both. By retiring your email marketing practices you miss the gap in between.

Social media often limits the amount and format of information delivered. Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters, while Facebook limits your status updates to 420. Email marketing affords the maximum control over information delivered, including photos, links and text.

Putting your information out there isn’t the only important thing. Results equal money. Facebook shares general traffic information such as the number of visits, likes and posts to your page weekly. Many email marketing services, such as Emma, share specific trackable data recording not only how many people open the emails but who opens them and what links they click on. Those results can then be grouped and exported for comparison or future use.